Vancouver Island Long Weekend
Our travel took place on the ancenstral lands of the Stz’uminus, Quw’utsun, Á,LEṈENEȻ ȽTE (W̱SÁNEĆ), Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group, Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla, Snuneymuxw, S’Klallam, Te’mexw Treaty Association, and Sc’ianew peoples who have stewarded those lands since time immemorial.
My partner’s parents are really lovely and I appreciate so much that they make the effort to visit with him (us) despite living so far away in Georgia. They decided to make a big road trip out of coming to see us, going through Texas to see cave dwellings and abandoned mining towns in Colorado, beautiful rocks in Utah, and dahlia farms in Oregon. When they finally got to us they had already been on the road for almost two weeks!
We left Seattle early on a Friday and drove to Port Angeles where we caught the Black Ball Ferry to Victoria and hot tip: You will see whale watching boats from Victoria in the Salish Sea so when you see them keep an eye out! We saw humpback whales come up for air on both the way in and out. Despite there being smoke from fires all over British Columbia, the Canadian landscape delivered. Everything is just cleaner, calmer, and nicer up there…. We spent the first evening staring at beautiful Cowichan Bay and waiting for seals to pop up as fishing boats went in and out on the public boat launch nearby. I love seals, but you do see them fairly often around Seattle, so I had to remind myself that you don’t really see harbor seals a lot in central Georgia. We ate dinner at The Rock Cod which was SO delicious and they have gluten free fish batter and dedicated gluten free fryers! I could not rave about this place more if you want fresh seafood and a cold martini.
The next day we did a pretty easy hike along the Cowichan Valley Trail out to the Holt Creek Trestle which is a rail to trail project that is part of the trans-Canada trail that will eventually allow people to cycle and hike across all of Canada on these former railways. The scale of the trestle was truly magnificent and the beams were gigantic, a reminder of how many huge trees have been felled in service of human development, you just can’t find trees that big anymore. There were also really fascinating markings on all of the beams showing where they belong in the puzzle of the trestle’s construction.
We followed a rockier trail down to a stream that is a tributary of the Cowichan River and it was crystal clear. I wished that we had more time to hang out and swim because there were so many beautiful swimming pools. We saw a bunch of fish, frogs, and crawdads!
Later that day we went into Victoria to see the city and then I insisted everyone needed to try poutine. We tried L’Authentique Poutine and Burgers along the waterfront because it came highly recommended from a person I met on my bike trip earlier this summer. My partner ordered the bolonese/Italian style poutine, while everyone else got the ‘classic’. I thought the poutine was great but I am far from a poutine connoisseur, I can say that the bolonese/Italian one is bad, we all agreed it tasted like canned Chef Boyardee. I couldn’t tell if the poutine was less satisfying than the one I had at La Belle Patate, but I think it probably has something to do with cycling 30 miles before eating it.
We spent the rest of the time walking around the downtown harbor area, and tried to go to the Royal British Columbia Museum to see indigenous art (they’re main attraction) but were informed at the ticket counter that many of the objects are being repatriated to the tribes of origin! It sounds like a pretty intensive process as those tribal bodies will need to find places to conserve the objects, and I am excited to see how the tribes of origin choose to conserve, share, and interpret (or not!) the objects over time. There were still a number of totem poles and a big house outside the museum we were able to enjoy. There were also tons of flowers (especially dahlias!) blooming outside the Fairmont Empress hotel. We also did a quick little jaunt through Chinatown and Fan Tan Alley which is ‘the narrowest alley in Canada’ or something like that and has a lot of cute shops. I stopped at Saltspring Soapworks for some body wash since I didn’t get to go when we were on Salt Spring Island last month. Our rental had Saltspring Soapworks products everywhere and everything smells so good.
On Sunday we went north to Duncan where we did a walking tour of the numerous totem poles in the city. In 1985 the mayor decided to start a citywide art project (City of Totems) installing totem poles to attract tourism to the city. It was laid out really nicely with marking on the ground to guide you along the route with interpretive signage. It was a great way to understand the symbology of the totem poles since you get to see several different styles/interpretations one after the other. The city has also installed interpretive signage about the Japanese exclusion of the 1940s and the racist demolition of the city’s Chinatown in the 1950s which made way for a (very ugly) civic center. There some really huge and ornate ones and it is such a great way to get people to hang out and see the town.
All in all, a really lovely and relaxing trip! We saw a pod of orcas in Cowichan Bay from the deck of the rental house, bald eagles, ravens, fish, crabs, and of course seals!